


Act IV, Scene I

by LoneWulffe



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: (I apologise in advance for how you may feel after you finish reading this), Alien Culture, F/M, Mentioned Sanvers, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-18 17:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11879226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoneWulffe/pseuds/LoneWulffe
Summary: "So there's this planet that a Durlan emissary told me about when I was a kid. It's got water and a yellow sun. It's got everything we need to survive. My parents wouldn't find us there. We'd be together, we'd be safe."They run, and life is a beautiful dream.





	Act IV, Scene I

**Author's Note:**

> No betas once again so if you spot any mistakes, blame me.
> 
> The title is naturally a reference to that one Shakespeare work Karamel constantly references: Romeo and Juliet. Act 4, Scene 1 of the play is when Friar Lawrence proposes the elaborate scheme to Juliet which is supposed to allow her and Romeo to live happily after (and is probably where Mon-El stopped reading when he suggests his own version of that plan in 2x17).
> 
> When the events of this fic take place will be obvious when you read it.

> “ _We are past the end of things now, but I don't want to leave.” - Richard Ford, The Sportswriter_

 

* * *

 

It's another bright and sunny day.

Logically speaking, Kara knows that there is absolutely no reason for her to be the least bit upset. The weather is great, there's no urgent matter to attend to and the bed is as comfortable as the day they got it.

She's still really irritated though.

“I hope you know this counts as torture!” she yells in the direction of the doorway even though there's no reason to raise her voice. The house is on the cozy side of small so every sound carries in it easily and even if she'd been whispering, Mon-El's enhanced hearing would have definitely ensured that he heard her anyway.

The sound of his laugh reaches her ears clearly despite him being in the kitchen and nowhere near the bedroom, thus proving her point. “I wasn't aware that being asked to stay in bed so that breakfast can be brought to you is something that can be compared to, say, getting repeatedly bitten by a crazed Blotick for example.”

“But I'm _hungry_ ,” she whines as she crosses her arms and sulks, totally beyond caring that she is currently behaving more like a spoilt five-year-old kid than an adult woman. The tantalising aromas currently wafting through the house have been driving her absolutely crazy since she first woke up and her self-control is almost non-existent at this stage. Only the fact that she'd promised him no less than five times to let him do this keeps her in place... and she's regretting it more and more with each passing second.

All that gets her is another hearty laugh, curse him. “Just a few more minutes,” he assures her. “I'm pretty confident that it'll be worth the wait.”

It's not something she doubts at all but it still doesn't make her current predicament any more tolerable. Her stomach growls loudly at that precise moment as if in agreement and she thinks she'd probably blush if she were feeling more self-conscious at the moment. Groaning, she allows herself to flop back down on the bed and starts glaring at the ceiling while she counts down the seconds.

After what feels like forever – actually three minutes and eighteen seconds in real life but that's not the point – there is the sound of approaching footsteps and Kara sits up just as Mon-El enters the bedroom with a tray that is one step away from overflowing with food.

“Oh, thank Rao!” she exclaims at the sight. “Finally!”

Her outburst earns her an affronted look from her boyfriend. “Really?” he asks somewhat incredulously, stopping in his tracks. “Thank Rao for the food but not the guy who actually cooked it and brought it to you?”

“I'll thank you after you actually hand over the food,” she assures him although she utterly fails to sound convincing as she thrusts her hands out and keeps her eyes trained solely on the tray. “Now gimme!”

“I've created a monster,” he sighs dramatically but does as he's told and carefully places the tray in front of her before sitting down on the bed carefully so as to avoid jostling anything.

He looks too much like an abandoned puppy in that moment that she decides to ignore his remark in favour of keeping her earlier promise. “Thank you,” she murmurs and gives him a peck on the lips which seems to mollify him a little. “Out of respect for your hard work, I'm giving you fifteen seconds to explain what I'm about to eat before I devour everything.”

That earns her a raised eyebrow. “Really? Only fifteen seconds?” At her warning look, he gives up and starts pointing at the numerous items on the tray while rattling off a short description. “Those are the torink eggs you like so much but I decided to try scrambling them today, that is my attempt at making pancakes out of the konna I got from Kilri last week, this is the best result I've been able to achieve so far in recreating bacon and _this_ -” he points with great fanfare at the glass of water, “-is _water_.”

Kara smacks him – carefully, of course, since it would be a real shame to waste the food and a very bad idea to spill anything on the bedsheets. “I can see that,” she retorts wryly but leaves it at that in favour of tucking into her breakfast. It proves to be the right course of action because the first bite of pancake alone is enough to send her into near-catatonic bliss. “This is _so good_ ,” she moans and shovels another piece into her mouth almost immediately.

“I'm glad at least that one's gotten your approval,” Mon-El laughs. “We can add it to the slowly growing list of Earth recipes that can be recreated with alien ingredients as long as they're close enough to the original items.”

“You really need to teach me how you do it,” she comments as she takes an experimental bite of the faux bacon which, aside from the slight difference in flavour which is completely understandable, is close enough to the real thing to pass. “Plus, I kind of feel a little guilty about not contributing as much as you do around the house.”

“The last time we had a cooking lesson, there was so much smoke the neighbours thought our house was on fire,” he reminds her with a touch of bemusement. “Besides, you need to focus on getting the beacon up and running. It evens out in the end.”

She tries – and fails – to fight the blush that rises to her cheeks. “It was one time,” she mutters defensively as she shoves a spoonful of scrambled eggs into her mouth. Still, he has a point – considering she has to split her time between that and doing her share of 'work' in the village, she's hardly ever eager to spend it finding out just how much of a curse she is in the kitchen. Besides, why bother learning when she can always rely on her amazing boyfriend and his equally amazing cooking skills to keep herself well-fed?

Her disinterest in discussing the topic any further must show on her face because he simply offers her an amused smile and pats her knee in a show of sympathy that she is sure is only half sincere. “We'll try making something simpler than stew next time and go from there. But only when you're feeling more confident.”

“Thank you,” she says, giving him a kiss and offering him a piece of her pancake in gratitude which he accepts without hesitation. “Anyway, will you be busy the whole of today? I know Farlan asked for your help in fixing the primary generator but that's it.”

“He didn't mention anything else,” Mon-El confirms although he looks pensive as he scratches his jaw. “We're not sure what's causing the problem in the first place though so it might take a while. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was thinking we could use some time away from everyone else and have a lunch date at the beach,” Kara confesses a little guiltily. As wonderful as it is to be living in such a friendly tight-knit community, she sometimes misses being able to walk around without literally everyone knowing who she is and calling out to her.

He beams at the suggestion. “Sure!” he agrees readily before his cheerful expression dissolves into a worried frown even as his blue-grey eyes shine with barely-concealed mischief. “You're not going to try and make lunch though, right?”

Rather than give him a verbal answer, she decides to go with the more satisfying option of smacking him in the face with her pillow.

 

* * *

 

Even though they've been living on Eminar for a few months now, Kara still finds it hard to believe that they're actually _here_. She can't for the life of her remember how Mon-El had actually managed to convince her to run away with him to his secret planet. (The entire team of bounty hunters that had descended upon National City shortly after that probably had 'helped' with that though. Even Mon-El's assistance had been insufficient and J'onn himself had had to lend a hand.)

Once she'd reluctantly gotten on board with it and they'd brought it up with J'onn, things had surprisingly fallen into place after the initial expected disagreements. Alex had been particularly vocal about not wanting to essentially lose her sister – she had felt the same – but even she had to concede that the situation had spiralled out of control. Drastic times called for drastic measures.

Having come to an agreement, they'd hatched a plan that had been so crazy that she was still surprised it had actually worked. J'onn had taken on the appearance of one of the defeated bounty hunters and they'd staged a convincing fight which for all appearances had left her gravely wounded. Then, while she was out of sight, they'd made a great show of launching her pod into space before blowing it up. (She'd admittedly been sorry to see it destroyed but sacrifices had to be made.)

Mon-El's own 'exit' had been harder to engineer without knowing exactly how his parents would react to their ploy but they'd gambled on the option that he believed to be most likely to produce the results they desired based on his own understanding of them. So he'd gone to them, doing his best to act distraught over Kara's 'death' and their role in it. The rage had been genuine for the most part – one of the bounty hunters had actually managed to hurt her a little – and he'd sworn to their faces that it would be the last time they would ever see him alive.

For the next two agonisingly long and tense weeks, the two of them had hid themselves in the DEO's headquarters while the desired narrative along with a few loosely-linked lies was fed into the alien community's rumour mill. Before long, there were over a dozen first-hand accounts as to Mon-El's fate ranging from suicide to flying off to the other end of the universe being passed around in hushed whispers, each one more elaborate and outlandish than the last. Meanwhile, they quietly made preparations of their own.

Three days after the Daxamite ship left Earth, a small alien craft large enough to transport two people quietly departed for a different planet that also orbited a yellow sun.

When they'd first arrived on Eminar, Kara had been unsure as to what to expect. The information that Mon-El had obtained from the Durlan emissary long ago had been limited as well as dated and there was a good chance things had changed since then. She had therefore considered it immensely fortunate that they had arrived to find things almost exactly as what the emissary had described long ago. There was clean water, a tropical environment, a civilisation advanced enough to have solar energy thanks to special crystals native to the planet but still primarily reliant on agriculture to survive and humanoid locals who looked no different from humans – and the two of them by extension – aside from their technicolour hair and eyes.

(And best of all, in Kara's eyes, was the distinct lack of both Kryptonite and lead on the planet.)

The Eminarians living in the village they had landed close to had been more than welcoming and simply accepted their somewhat flimsy cover story without batting an eye. They had even gone to the extent of patiently helping them familiarise themselves with life on Eminar and everything that entailed. On top of that, one of the locals who'd introduced herself as Alrein had gone the extra mile by letting them stay with her and her life-mate Kilri until they'd found more permanent lodgings.

All in all, it had been a memorable experience all the way up to them finally being able to earn enough of the local currency to buy their own home and focus on their next major goal: establishing a direct link back to Earth.

Kara is snapped out of her reminiscing when the communicator she'd switched on minutes earlier finally bleeps affirmatively, informing her that a connection has been established with its twin several solar systems away. On cue, Winn's cheerful countenance appears on the screen.

“Hailing on all frequencies!” he greets her and does the Vulcan salute for good measure.

The look she gives him is one of fond exasperation. “Hi to you too, Winn. And for what it's worth, you really need to find new material,” she chides him even as she finds herself smiling good-naturedly.

“Oh come on, Kara!” he whines. “We're using an intergalactic version of Skype which I essentially helped create, okay? Can't I enjoy this insanely awesome accomplishment – which, I'd like to remind you, I can't share with anyone outside the DEO – every chance I get?”

“I didn't say you couldn't enjoy it,” she counters. “I just asked you to stop using the same Star Trek quote every other time we talk to each other.”

“Fine, you spoilsport, suck all the fun out of this and be all business,” he grumbles and Kara is on the verge of arguing about the unwarranted name-calling when he glances at something or someone off-screen. “Hang on, Alex wants to speak to you first before we start.”

At the mention of her sister, Kara sits up and watches as Winn gets out of his seat only for Alex to take his place. “Hey Alex!”

“Hey Kara,” Alex responds with a fond if wistful smile as she presses her hand against the screen on her end, prompting Kara to do the same on her side so that their palms align. It's become their little ritual – a poor substitute for actual physical contact, for sure, but beggars couldn't be choosers. “How are things going over there?”

“Same old, same old,” Kara shrugs. “We've managed to mostly pay back Alrein and Kilri for letting us stay with them even though they still try to return the money to us every chance they get. There was a fire in the nearby woods the other day that was caused by a bunch of careless kids but it was nothing this retired superhero couldn't handle. But enough about me! How are the wedding preparations going?”

“Ugh,” Alex groans at that which tells Kara everything she needs to know. “I swear, the amount of planning that goes into this thing is making me want to shoot something. Repeatedly. Thank god my line of work lets me punch things; I don't think I could make it through the whole process without having an outlet for all this stress. You have no idea how many times Maggie and I have considered giving up and just eloping.”

“Don't you dare!” Kara yells crossly, jabbing an accusatory finger at her sister's face. “You promised me I'd get to be your maid of honour, Alex! I'm so going to kick your ass if you take that from me!”

“All right, all right!” Throwing her hands up in surrender, Alex rolls her eyes heavenward. “I was just joking, geez! Of course I want you to be there when I get married! Although speaking of which...” Her gaze turns sly. “When are _you_ finally going to propose? The two of you have already done the whole 'run away to another planet together' thing and, as Mom likes to say, it's the twenty-first century. If he's not going to get down on one knee, there's nothing that says you can't be the one to do it.”

The blush that reddens Kara's cheeks comes quickly and involuntarily. “A-A-Alex!” she stutters. “Wha-What are you talking about?! I can't _propose_! We haven't even been dating for a year!” At Alex's raised eyebrow, she hastily amends her statement. “Not that that's a factor especially considering you and Maggie are getting hitched less than a year since you two first got together. I'm just saying it's... complicated. I mean,” she finds herself babbling, “which set of customs would I follow anyway? Kryptonian? Daxamite? Earth? Alrein's been dropping hints too so I guess even Eminarian's on the table-”

“Aha!” Alex crows triumphantly as she points accusingly at Kara's face. “So you _have_ been thinking about it!”

Realising she's walked into a trap, Kara futilely tries to backpedal. “I-I-I was just... humouring you by pretending to go along with your ridiculous line of questioning, okay? There's no deeper meaning to anything I said! I have never once thought about this until you brought it up!”

“Uh huh. Whatever you say.” Based on Alex's smug look, she is completely unconvinced. Before Kara can retort, however, the older Danvers sister glances off-screen and mutters a soft curse under her breath. “I have to go. Maggie and I are meeting the wedding planner in half an hour and if I don't leave now I'm going to get stuck in traffic. Mom says hi, by the way, and she hopes both of you are taking care of yourselves. Same goes for J'onn. He would've been here but the President wanted him to weigh in on an amendment to the Alien Registry Act she's planning on making.”

Unable to stop herself from sulking a little over the fact that Alex had essentially had the last word in their pseudo-argument, Kara nevertheless tries her best to offer her sister a smile. “Okay, tell them hi for me. And that I miss all of you.”

“I will.” With that, Alex gives a small wave before leaving and Winn reclaims his seat a short while later.

“Didn't mean to eavesdrop those last few seconds,” he says apologetically, “but we miss you too. Both of you. Game night isn't the same with only half the gang present. Which is why we need to work twice as hard to get that beacon up and running so we can just press a button over here and voila! You guys will be one Stargate trip away from Earth and vice versa.”

“Yeah, you're right,” Kara responds, her smile a little more rueful than before as she pulls out the box containing everything they need for the beacon and eyes the assortment of electronic instruments and parts before her. “Okay, I'm going to start transmitting the latest readings; then you can tell me how to assemble this next piece. In the meantime, you can update me on what's happened since my last call.”

 

* * *

 

By the time Kara finishes successfully assembling yet another component of the beacon for the portal and ends the call with Winn, it's slightly past noon. Deciding against putting something together using whatever leftovers they have from dinner, she makes a stop at the local eatery to buy their lunch before heading for the building housing the village's primary generator. Her timing proves to be impeccable as she spots two familiar figures walking away from it.

Mon-El looks up then and flashes her a smile the moment he spots her while Farlan, being his usual brooding detached self, simply acknowledges her arrival with a nod. “Hey Kara!” her boyfriend greets her with a quick kiss, mindful of the basket of food she is carrying and his own sweaty state. “Sorry, let me go clean up a little first before we go. Farlan, can I borrow your shower since your house is closer?”

“Help yourself,” the older man shrugs, making no move himself to leave.

“Thanks. Be right back,” Mon-El tells Kara before jogging in the direction of the blue-roofed house a stone's throw away.

“No need to rush!” she calls after him before turning to address Farlan. “So does this mean the repairs are done?”

“The heavy lifting part, yes,” he grunts as he runs a hand through his jet-black hair. “I can handle the rest of it myself. If I need Mon-El's help again though, I'll probably call on him.”

“He'll appreciate it, I think,” she responds with a wry smile. “You've been almost as good to us as Alrein and Kilri have been and both of us are always more than happy to repay you guys in any way that we can.”

The look he gives her unnerves her a little for some reason she cannot fathom. “There is one thing you can do.”

“...What's that?” she asks warily, feeling like she's just walked into a trap for the second time today.

He shrugs all too casually considering his response. “Tell us when the two of you are finally going to get linked.”

Only her enhanced reflexes prevent her from actually dropping the basket in her hands at the mention of the local version of marriage. “W-Wh-Wha-What?!”

The worst part of the whole thing is that Farlan is speaking in his usual serious tone and shows no sign that he's actually just teasing her. “We assumed you had already gone through the rites according to your native customs before you arrived here but you corrected us as soon as the subject came up. Yet the two of you behave as if you have already been linked for years. Everyone has been... hm... curious, you could say.”

“Wh-Why is it such a hot topic?!” she stutters, mentally flailing for any potential escape from this rather mortifying conversation. A small voice at the back of her mind quietly comments how it is rather remarkable that this had managed to escape her notice considering the speed at which even the smallest bit of news spreads throughout the village but it is ignored in favour of the current situation.

He merely blinks at her. “It has been a while since the last linkage,” is his simple answer.

“How is that relevant-”

“And we have all placed bets,” he admits without a shred of guilt.

Sputtering incoherently, Kara is saved from further embarrassment by the timely return of Mon-El who alternates his gaze between her flushed face and Farlan's usual stoic expression. “Am I... interrupting something?” he asks carefully.

“Nope!” she yelps as she abandons all sense of propriety and picks him up bridal-style so that they can leave as fast as superhumanly possible. “Let's go!”

Accustomed as he is to this sort of treatment, Mon-El barely blinks as he is carried and flown through the sky in the direction of the nearest beach. “Are you sure?” he prods. “Because I feel like I was part of the discussion for some reason.”

“It had nothing to do with us! Or you!” she lies as she steadfastly keeps her eyes focused on the horizon and avoids meeting his gaze.

“You're crinkling,” he points out blandly and pokes said crinkle for good measure.

She ends the conversation by dropping him into the ocean. (It has the added benefit of allowing her to appreciate the sight of her boyfriend in soaking wet clothes that cling to his body.) He has his revenge, however, when he swims to shore, chases her down, grabs her by the waist and sends them both cannonballing into the water with a super-powered leap.

 

* * *

 

While it would have been nothing short of amazing to be able to spend the entire day at the beach, they have to do their jobs so they end their little trip after a couple of hours and head back to their house to get cleaned up. Life on Eminar was not that different from most other civilised planets in that it cost money and the both of them had strove to find ways to support themselves as soon as possible no matter how much Alrein and Kilri had told them not to worry about it. Mon-El had been fortunate enough to be offered a job at one of the village's eateries which doubled as a bar of sorts, allowing him to rely on the same skills he had used to support himself back on Earth.

Kara's career trajectory, on the other hand, had taken an interesting and unexpected turn.

“Magic!” Suui howls, stomping her foot on the ground with such force that her long violet hair flaps like wings.

“I want sword-fighting!” Zeezu seethes, clearly trying to resist the urge to yank tufts of his own spiky red hair out in frustration.

“Guys, please-” Kara tries to defuse the situation but her voice is drowned out by the cacophony produced by the squabbling children before her.

“Why can't we get a love story this time?” Tsera whines, her pink curls bouncing as she hops in place.

“I thought we were going to sing some songs today...” Heinn, the baby of the bunch, whimpers as he tries to hide his face behind his hands and a curtain of his own bright green hair.

“Enough!” As always, it is cerulean-haired Aundii, the oldest among them, who instils some kind of order in the group. “It's free time and Miss Kara should get to choose! All of you have misbehaved so much in class today that none of you should be allowed to have a say in this!”

Although she is rather grateful for the girl's help – Kara privately wonders if there's some way she can introduce the concept of a class monitor in what passes for the village's school – she feels the need to try and regain control of the situation herself. “It's okay, Aundii,” she pats the girl's shoulder comfortingly. “I don't really mind.”

That unfortunately just makes Aundii fume just a little more. “You should! They're bullying you and you shouldn't reward their bad behaviour!” she declares with great conviction, her amber eyes sparkling in righteous fury.

Kara almost laughs at how determined the girl is to defend her. Almost. Instead, she just smiles gently. “I appreciate that,” she says, “but how about this? You almost never share your own suggestions so how about you choose what you want today and then help me figure out a way for everyone to get their turn in the future?”

Aundii's eyes widen in shock. “Me? Choose?” she squeaks, her previous boldness all but gone. At Kara's encouraging nod, the girl silently looks down at her feet and fidgets for a few moments as she tries to muster up her courage. Then she shuffles closer to Kara and all but whispers her request. “Can we have a Supergirl story please?”

The question causes a pang in Kara's heart for more than one reason but she makes sure not to let it show on her face. “That's a great choice. All right everyone, please sit down and I'll start. Suui, Zeezu, stop fighting or I'll make you sit outside where you can't hear me.”

She ends up telling them a heavily embellished account of the time she fought Draaga, adding everything from swordplay to a bit of what would pass as magic for Eminar's level of technology. Mon-El's contribution to the original fight even gets a significant upgrade to partner and at the end of the day the story becomes a tag-team battle with a Hellgrammite jumping in to assist Draaga mid-fight.

Her audience is captivated all the way to the end and when she finishes her story, they break into raucous applause. Grinning, she takes a sweeping bow before slowly ushering them to their feet and out the door. Heinn, as usual, has started nodding off so she picks him up and carries him out to where his parents are waiting. The young couple extensively express their gratitude for her dedication like every other time and she accepts it graciously, having gotten the hint long ago that there's nothing she can do to make them stop.

“They really love you a lot,” comes the unexpected comment, startling her and drawing her attention away from the sight of the children slowly making their way back to their respective homes. The voice, however, is all too familiar and she is unsurprised to find Mon-El leaning against a nearby tree with his arms crossed when she turns. “Thanks for the little promotion in your story, by the way.”

She shrugs and offers him a modest smile. “You're welcome. And they'll love anyone who lets them get away with even half the stuff I do,” she counters wryly as she walks up to him and wraps her arms around his neck. “Besides, I don't want to hear that from the guy who keeps spoiling them with homemade treats every time he drops in during free time.”

He hums in agreement and pulls her even closer by the waist so that there's barely a sliver of space between them. “Fair enough,” he concedes easily and leans in to kiss her.

A chorus of “Ewwwwwww!”-s causes them to break apart and they both look up the street to find half the kids standing in the middle of the street and giving them disgusted looks.

Kara can't help it; she starts laughing and buries her face in Mon-El's chest in an effort to at least muffle the sound. Her boyfriend, however, chooses to respond in a different manner. “You brats better get out of here or I'm not going to bring you guys any sweets for a whole moon-cycle!” he calls out in a faux-angry growl.

“That was mean,” she chides him as they watch the kids throw them genuinely panicked looks before scampering off.

“It's called instilling discipline,” he counters mock-seriously as he releases her only to clasp her hand and tug her in the direction of home. “Their parents will thank me for it.”

“Sure they will,” she agrees sarcastically and doesn't even bother to hide the fact that she's rolling her eyes as the words leave her lips.

“I don't mean just these kids though,” he remarks, the timbre of his voice indicating that he's being serious. “The children back on Earth loved you too. You're a natural when it comes to dealing with them. Well, you're Supergirl after all; there's nothing you can't do.”

She is fully aware that the sincere and effusive praise he showers her with comes effortlessly to him but it never ceases to make her blush self-consciously every time he does it. “Yes... well... all part of being a superhero,” she feebly tries to deflect his compliments.

There is another reason the topic makes her bashful, however, and it is not one she feels anywhere near ready to share with him. After all, as much as she loves him – as much as they've been through and as far as they've come in their relationship – it's a pretty big deal to admit that she's caught herself wondering what it would be like to have a child of their own.

It's not something Kara thinks about often and certainly not something she lets herself dwell on for long when the idea sneaks up on her mostly because it leaves her immensely flustered. When she allows herself to daydream just a little about it, however...

“Hey, you okay?”

Mon-El's question snaps her out of her reverie and she looks up to find that they've reached their front door. “Yes! Just... thinking about... dinner,” she lies and hopes she isn't crinkling too obviously.

That hope is immediately dashed when he levels a disbelieving look at her but lets it slide much to her relief. “Always focused on food,” he sighs mournfully as they go inside. “Sometimes I think you only keep me around because I can cook.”

“You know that's not true!” she argues with a teasing smile, secretly glad that he's chosen not to push her into revealing her real thoughts. “That's just a... a... bonus! It ranks, like, fifth on the list of reasons I like being with you! No, seventh!”

He turns around and traps her in his arms, an exaggerated pout on his face. “I think my cooking skills just got insulted.”

No matter how hard she tries, she cannot stop herself from giggling at how ridiculous he looks. “Well, you can make me a superb dinner to try and convince me to change my mind...” she trails off slyly.

One of his eyebrows arches. “Why, Kara Zor-El,” he drawls, “is that your attempt at bribing me? And here I thought Kryptonians were all about being lawful.”

“I blame it on the atrocious company I've been keeping,” she manages to say with a straight face. “See, there's this Daxamite who's been a terrible influence on me lately and I sincerely believe that he should share part of the responsibility for my actions.”

“Well then, I plead guilty.” He punctuates his statement with a kiss and she lets herself melt into it as she thinks about how much she wants this to last forever-

The alarm in her bedroom starts ringing.

“No.” The plea that leaves her lips when she breaks the kiss is as quiet as it is desperate. “Please. Not yet.”

Mon-El is still smiling but it is sorrow and not happiness that lingers in the curve of his mouth now. “Kara...”

“Just a little while longer,” she begs, her hands curling to grab fistfuls of his shirt as she does her best to tune out the sound of the alarm.

He lets go so that he can frame her face with his hands and in that one moment the house fades away to be replaced with the balcony of the DEO. It is the moment before he is to be transported onto the Daxamite ship and on the verge of learning that his parents survived their planet's destruction. Their first goodbye, in a way, which makes it appropriate – once again, an illusion is being shattered.

“You know that's not possible,” he tells her gently.

She blinks and the scenery changes again. They're in the Fortress of Solitude and her left cheek is throbbing where the Kryptonite sai cut her. Rhea hovers in the background, ready to take Mon-El away from her forever and he is letting it happen because he thinks she is worth that sacrifice.

“Don't go,” she whispers just like she had that day.

The soft caress of his thumbs as he wipes away her tears distracts her long enough for their surroundings to shift once more. This time, they're on the Daxamite ship again and she is about to send him away before going to encourage Rhea to surrender. “It's okay,” he reassures her. “You're going to be okay.”

“I wish I'd listened to you that day,” she confesses. “But a part of me was afraid you'd eventually resent yourself and me for not giving your mother a chance.”

“I could never do that,” he says but she can't really be sure that's how he actually feels, can she? After all, the Mon-El before her is only a figment of her dreams. “Besides, that's not the kind of person you are. You always do the right thing no matter what.”

It's the painful truth but she thinks – wildly, desperately, _angrily_ – that she should have earned the right to be a little selfish by now after everything she's lost. “I wish I wasn't.”

She makes the mistake of blinking again and the scene she finds herself reliving this time is the last and most agonising of them all. Her mind recalls every single detail – the smell of the wet grass, the sound of his erratic heartbeat, the feel of his body warmth through the fabric of his DEO uniform... and the sight of her pod, ready to take him far, far away from her.

“We should've run away like you suggested,” she manages to get out between choked sobs, clutching him like the lifeline that he is in this very moment. “We could've had so much more time together.”

His smile here and now in her dream, while still sad, is free of pain unlike that fateful day. “But you're Supergirl,” he reminds her. “You don't run from anything.” (She should have. Just this once.) “The time we had was good enough.” (It wasn't. Not even close.) “It has to be.”

There are so many things she wants to say – the same countless things she wanted to say before she lost him forever – but in the end there is only one that she thinks she should've said more often. “I love you,” she whispers brokenly as if this makes up for all the opportunities she let slip through her fingers because she thought she had all the time in the world to say those three words. As if this is real and he can hear her.

“I love you,” Mon-El whispers back as he leans in to press a kiss to her forehead. Kara closes her eyes instinctively-

 

* * *

 

-and when she opens them again, she's lying in her bed alone with her arms wound tight around his pillow. Aside from the still-ringing alarm, her apartment is completely silent; there is no one in the kitchen cooking, in the bathroom washing up or simply moving around. The only noise she hears is the sound of National City waking up and going about its business like usual. Everything is normal.

It's another bright and sunny day.

**Author's Note:**

> *dramatic thunder and lightning*
> 
> HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
> 
> YOU THOUGHT IT WAS FLUFF BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY ANGST!
> 
> HAHAHAHahaha... ha... ha... ha...
> 
> ......................
> 
> [Professor Farnsworth voice] Oh, I made myself sad.
> 
> (crawls into a corner to cry)
> 
> PS: I promise my next work will lean more on the fluffy side.
> 
> PPS: Thanks to emarasmoak for pointing out my little 'musical instrument' error.


End file.
